Chapter 140: The Nature of Social Galas

The news of Howard Stark's funeral had been making waves for several days; every talk show, every variety program, and both print and television media had not strayed from this topic, giving the impression that this story would dominate until the end of next year.

But in reality, not many days later, another even bigger and more important international news story quickly replaced Howard Stark's death, becoming the headline that occupied the entire front page.

December 25, 1991, the president of the Red Empire announced his resignation. The following day, the 26th, the Red Empire collapsed!

Every chess player capable of entering the game was, amidst this feast of the empire's collapse, recklessly plundering the interests of those who had lost their controllers. Before the domestic order of the empire's remnants could be re-established, this place was a carnival ground for capital.

In comparison, the scale of Stark Industries truly became something like a chicken rib: tasteless to eat, yet a pity to discard.

For those qualified to meddle in Stark Industries, an even bigger and easier-to-eat cake suddenly appeared beside them. Even those unqualified to meddle could find an opportunity to fish in troubled waters beside that cake.

Naturally, everyone's attention shifted from Stark Industries to the collapsing Red Empire.

News about Stark Industries seemed to have gone silent, vanishing from newspapers and media entirely, not a trace to be seen. This left Henry, even if he wanted to care, with no way to know the actual situation.

What made Henry curious was: if the Red Empire had not become a shield, what would have happened to Stark Industries in the end?

However, such hypothetical questions held no practical significance.

For those who wanted to use Howard Stark's death to short-strike Stark Industries, they were probably crying in the toilets by now.

Who knew the Red Empire was so unhelpful, that the high-ups were actually fooled into voluntarily dissolving? No one could possibly give up the Red Empire, that piece of fat meat, and continue to focus on Stark Industries.

Henry originally thought that with these two major events happening, the fundraising gala initiated by Lady He Ben should have quieted down a bit. Who knew it would actually become even more lively!

On a night when a certain gala had just ended and they were driving back to the hotel to rest, Robert Wards complained about this matter in the car, saying: "Hey, you know what? The people coming to the gala recently are crazy beyond bounds, constantly discussing the Red Empire.

"And they are also discussing how to gain benefits from it. Everyone is testing people's thoughts, asking who is interested in participating, their own strengths, the opponent's weaknesses, how much profit can be made, and what the risks are."

Robert's complaints were mainly not directed at Lady He Ben. This retired movie star, while not opposing such topics, also disliked talking behind people's backs.

The one who could complain a few words with Robert was Henry, sitting in the driver's seat.

Robert loved galas, loved the feeling of shuttling between big shots, as if he himself was also a person of great importance, just like them.

If there was anything that could be compared to this feeling, it was showing off such things in front of others. So the new little assistant became a very good listener; besides, Henry was also very interested in these things.

The reason Henry was interested was not that he wanted to participate like Robert, eventually becoming a member of this class. He just treated it as watching a reality movie, observing the lifestyle of these rich people to broaden his horizons.

A fun-loving person who just watches the drama and eats melons; this attitude had never changed.

So after hearing Robert's complaints, Henry followed the flow of the conversation and said: "Yeah, I think their behavior is really exaggerated. I almost thought this was some kind of pre-war mobilization, not a fundraising gala for the Children's Fund."

"Henry, actually, you shouldn't feel strange. This is originally the primary purpose of social galas."

"Oh. So these galas are not just for a group of boring and rich big shots to gather, eat and drink, and chat nonsense?"

"Haha. Using your words, they move tens of thousands up and down every minute; how would they waste time on meaningless things? Even the ladies from those upper-class families are not just dressing up beautifully and displaying their feathers like peacocks. All that is just the surface."

"Oh, Robert, tell me. Let me broaden my horizons."

Having an audience was more exciting than anything else. Lady He Ben, who was in the same car, was not good at stopping two big boys who were caught up in the excitement, so she could only act as a background board.

Robert then said excitedly: "To put it plainly, every public gala is the best opportunity for this group of big shots to collude, connect, and communicate. Because the gala theme serves as a cover, concealing their private purposes.

"Moreover, there are many people at the gala, making it easy to develop other helpers to join the cause. Even those with some spare money on hand will use such occasions to find suitable business opportunities.

"Conversely, if every matter had to be discussed in a centralized meeting, as soon as the news media captured it once, just looking at the lineup of attendees, it would be easy for sharp-eyed people to see the purpose, which would actually be detrimental to the promotion of the matter.

"Even those ladies might be serving as envoys, brokers, and so on, conveying messages between people who find it inconvenient to stand together.

"Those women who, upon seeing a rich guy, just want to drag him into a small room are merely the decorative vases at these galas. They don't even have the ability to be a microphone, so they are not worth mentioning at all."

Henry looked at the silent Lady He Ben and asked: "Boss, do you know these things? I see you just warmly welcome every guest, constantly persuading them to donate more to the United Nations Children's Fund. Shouldn't we change the conversation strategy?"

This lady, who had grown old and wise, was no naive simpleton. She said with a wise smile: "Child, of course I know what the real purpose of those people participating in the gala is.

"I even know what the meaning of their questions is when I converse with them. As long as I am willing, it is easy for me to become a broker, introducing people with similar goals to meet each other.

"But I don't need to do that, nor am I suitable for it. Anyway, our main purpose is to raise funds for the Children's Fund. No matter what the purpose of those people's arrival is, they cannot do nothing. At the very least, they will provide a sum of 'entrance ticket', right?"

After thinking for a moment, Henry said with relief: "True, there are quite a few people who attend almost every gala. Those who don't know might think they love children so much. But looking at the amount they donated, it's just a decent number."

Simply put, Lady He Ben's meaning was that everyone gets what they need. Anyway, they do not hinder each other; the other party is not plotting a crime, so why not turn a blind eye?

Many things are like this; once you think it through, you feel there is nothing to it. Since there is no conflict of interest with oneself anyway, why bother with that idle worry?

Fun-loving person's daily fun +1. It proves that rich people have so many tricks.

(End of this chapter)